Category: Labor

CalTrans wants to expand I-5 along a 27 mile stretch of freeway between La Jolla and Oceanside. They want to add 8 to 10 new lanes, plus more HOV lanes. They want to pour more concrete to allow for more vehicles in order to shave dozens of minutes off the average commute at peak times. It will only cost between $3.4 and $4.5 Billions, depending on which of the four options are chosen.

The new freeway expansion would potentially cause damage to only six coastal lagoons, only a mere 32 acres of wetlands and a pittance of 74 acres of coastal sage.

by John Lawrence/Will Blog for Food

I can think of no more apt metaphor for what voters did to themselves than the title of this post. Dissatisfied with the economy, voters voted in a party dedicated to the destruction of the economy as far as the middle class is concerned. They voted for a great economy for Wall Street bankers and billionaires. Obama, despite his failure to get the economy back on track in two years and despite his Republican lite tendencies and seeming inability to take a strong stand, is vastly preferable to the Republicans who now control the House. Obama, who already was governing from the right of center, is continually accused of being a left wing socialist and told by Republicans that he now must move to the right. If he moves to the right any further, he might as well resign from the Democratic party and join the Tea Baggers.

Following in the spirit of Doug Porter’s efforts to find the silver linings in the dark clouds that enveloped the nation on Election Day, I perused the U-T this morning and went over the numbers. I wanted to find the goodies in the slack bag of ‘trick or treat’ candy we were handed on Tuesday.

SAN DIEGO: Hundreds of people weigh in on marine life plan

By Deborah S Brennan /North County Times /October 20, 2010

More than 700 people weighed in Wednesday on plans by the California Fish and Game Commission to protect marine life by expanding coastal areas that limit fishing and other activities.

by Emily Alpert / Voice of San Diego

Most sitting school board members talk up how the school district has improved on their watch. Not John de Beck. As he campaigns for another four years on the board, de Beck sounds more like an upstart, complaining that San Diego Unified hasn’t tackled its biggest problems.

The fall season hasn’t treated new shows kindly. With few exceptions, not many programs made a critical splash, and one of the few that did (‘Lone Star’) got the boot after just two episodes.

It’s all well and good to think in theoretical terms about what can be done to ensure that only the safest, most inoffensive and blandest programming gets the green light in the near future. But I’m here to propose a simpler, more concrete, and potentially more effective way to combat a future slew of boring TV: watch FX’s ‘Terriers.’

Lost in the shuffle in more ways than one, ‘Terriers’ had quietly produced five consecutively strong episodes right out of the gate.

By David Moberg / In These Times / Originally published Oct 8, 2010

One union came out on top this week at California’s Kaiser Permanente facilities.

In a much-anticipated showdown over the future of healthcare unionism in California, a substantial plurality of the 43,000 members of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers-West at Kaiser Permanente facilities have voted to remain with the Service Employees union …

MANY SAN DIEGO EVENTS – LISTED INSIDE

From the 350.org website:
Dear World,

It’s been a tough year: in North America, oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico; in Asia some of the highest temperatures ever recorded; in the Arctic, the fastest melting of sea ice ever seen; in Latin America, record rainfalls washing away whole mountainsides.

So we’re having a party.

Circle 10/10/10 on your calendar. That’s the date.

One Nation on Oct. 2nd is a huge event in Washington DC headed by the AFL-CIO, CtW and NAACP and endorsed by many other organization.

We will meet on October 2nd from 3:30pm until 4:30pm. Meet at Balboa Park at 6th and Laurel St (El Prado). We will start on time so please try and come early! We encourage you to bring signs, noise makers and energy!

By Center on Policy Initiatives / September 28, 2010

More than 100,000 San Diego County residents fell from the middle class into poverty or severe economic hardship over the past two years, while the wealthiest fifth of earners continued to receive almost half of all income generated in the County.

US Census data released today reinforce the desperate need for good jobs that pay living wages, a CPI analysis shows. Almost half the adults living in extreme poverty in 2009 were working full- or part-time, and families with children were particularly hard hit.

As Mexicans celebrated the 200th anniversary of their independence from Spain last week, evoking a history of resistance against colonialism, a disturbing development unfolds on the country’s northern border: a fleet of US Predator B drones has been deployed on constant patrol.

People who have exhausted their jobless benefits are pressing policymakers for more aid and joining together to call attention to their cause.

After his wife of 23 years pulls out of the driveway every morning to head to college, Scott Mathewson sits down at the computer in his apartment and talks to his unemployment group.